Clark County Solids Dewatering Facility Earns 2010 Award

The CH2M Hill-designed facility earns praise from publication and the American Public Works Association-Nevada Section.

Feb 15, 2011

CH2M Hill, a global full-service consulting, design, construction, and operations firm, has announced that the Clark County Water Reclamation District Solids Dewatering Facility has won Southwest Contractor’s Best of 2010 Award for Civil/Public Works in Nevada and was named the American Public Works Association (APWA) -Nevada Section’s Project of the Year in the environmental category.

Southwest Contractor, now ENR Southwest, is a construction industry publication serving the Southwest United States. The annual competition, now in its 13th year, recognizes construction and design excellence in several award categories. The awards were presented in Las Vegas in December. APWA is an international educational and professional association of public agencies, private sector companies, and individuals dedicated to providing high quality public works goods and services. The APWA-Nevada Section Project of the Year award is given in three categories – transportation, structures, and environmental – on the basis of service to the public, community need, intricacy of design, aesthetic consideration, difficulty of construction, and other related criteria.

CH2M Hill provided the engineering and design services for the CCWRD Solids Dewatering Facility, which is located at CCWRD’s 150-mgd treatment plant in Las Vegas. The work, for which MMC, Inc. was the general contractor and Harris and Associates was construction manager, consisted of adding a sludge transfer pump station to pump primary and thickened waste activated sludge over a mile to the dewatering facility, two 376,000-gallon sludge storage tanks, polymer and chemical mixing and feed systems, eight high-speed centrifuges each capable of handling up to 5,000 lb/hr of sludge, dewatered sludge storage and load out facilities, and an extensive odor control system. The heavy industrial dewatering equipment and mechanical systems are housed in a complex four-story building that was designed with contemporary styling that blends in with the surroundings and masks the industrial nature of the facility.

The facility is designed to produce up to 180 dry tons of dewatered solids per day. Some unique features of the facility include:

High level automation that allows the facility to operate 24-hours per day with minimal operational staff and during unmanned shifts.